Jurassic Park: De-Extinction
by moukidelmar
Summary: In preparation for the immanent release of Jurassic World I am writing my own sequel to Jurassic Park, addressing my biggest likes and dislikes about the movies.
1. Chapter 1 Isla Nublar

Jurassic Park: De-Extinction

Chapter One: Isla Nublar

INGEN Biogenetics had hovered on the brink of Chapter 11 for many years, ever since the mid 1980's when an ill-fated visit to their Costa Rica facility. Five people had died and the facility had been closed, indefinitely. The company had been on the very brink of going under for the last time, of going extinct. Their CEO Jon Hammond, had fallen badly ill in the mid 90's, leaving control of his company to his nephew, Peter Ludlow. That was when things went very, very, badly wrong.

Ludlow had tried to save the company by salvaging dinosaurs from their Site B facility. They had suffered extremely high causalities and the whole awful debacle had ended when a full grown bull Tyrannosaurus Rex had gone on a rampage in San Diego. Ultimately, Peter Ludlow had been killed and Jon Hammond had set up a restricted biological reserve with the Costa Rican government. But the damage had already been done. INGEN was finished, there was no way they could possibly recover and in the early 2000's Jon Hammond died, putting the final nail in the coffin of INGEN.

The company went under and the Japanese backers took their loses. Or at least, that's what had seemed to happen. In truth, Hammond had left everything to his daughter Susan. Ultimately, she had played everything close to the chest and kept the company running, under a different name of course. Susan Hammond had majored in business and she knew enough to let it seem as though INGEN had gone the way of the dinosaurs, no pun intended. But just as they had managed to reverse extinction, INGEN began to resurrect from the ashes.

It had been a long road to recovery but in the end Susan had brought it back from the dead. One thing she absolutely was certain of was that she didn't want to repeat the problems of the past. Her kids had nearly been killed on her father's island. She had hated him for what he had put her through, put her kids through, but now that she was sitting on the other side of the desk, Susan had to admit that running a company like INGEN was much harder than she had anticipated.

Jon Hammond had forever been toting the idea that they had "spared no expense", but Susan knew full well that had been a lie. In fact, INGEN had cut corners everywhere they could so that they could. That was the only explanation that Susan could come up with as to how a sloppy fat man and a thunderstorm had brought down every security measure they had had on the island. The dinosaurs had escaped and run amok. Susan was sure that if her company was to survive she would have to be certain that she wasn't repeating the mistakes of the past.

"Let's examine the mistakes my father made with his park." Susan said as she looked around the conference room. "First problem, automation. My father believed that taking the human element out of the equation would keep everything safe, but I think that we all know that's not the case. My father hired experts but didn't bother to learn about the subjects that they were experts in. He was CEO of a genetics company but never knew enough about Genetics to know that what he had made were theme park monsters and nothing more. He hired paleontologists and failed to ask the big questions about the dinosaur's behavior. Partly, uncertainty was always going to be a problem, I mean, hell, we're recreating life that hasn't existed on the Earth for 65 million years. We don't know what to expect whenever we develop a new dinosaur, but at least we can make a good guess. Finally, the third and final flaw was paranoia. My father tried to keep everything secret, the direct result being that no one involved in the JP project had any idea what we were doing big picture. Everyone from the graphic designers to the computer systems engineers to the security to the consultants were working in a box, shut off from the rest of the world. Catastrophic failure was really the only option given the circumstances."

Susan straightened and smoothed the wrinkles out of her Armani business suit. Susan was starting to go grey but she was still a handsome woman in her mid-50's. She had rebuilt the board of directors and now she looked around the room she was glad she had. Yes, INGEN had more vice presidents than leaves on a tree, but she knew it was necessary. One to run the park, one to run the zoo, one to manage the dinosaurs and so on. She had appointed eight new vice presidents in all, the bean counters hadn't liked it but Susan had put her foot down. She knew it was absolutely essential that everyone in command of ANYTHING at INGEN know exactly what the company was up to at all times. She knew full well exactly how important it was to keep abreast of what all the arms of the octopus were doing at the same time.

"It's been several years and we've come a long way." Susan said "Ladies and Gentlemen, I believe we have come to a most important crossroads. We are now at the point my father dreamed of. All of the systems are in place, the board is set. What we have to decide now is, do we move forward with the JP project or do we want to keep the animals away from the public, for research purposes only? This is not a question that should be taken lightly, and that is why I called this corrumn today."

Susan directed a look at Dr. Laura Sorkin, vice president of genetic research. Sorkin had been part of the INGEN genetic team for years. Years back she had been one of the top genetists in her day and had been commissioned to develop the dinosaurs for the JP project but had ultimately been turned down as lead on the project in favor of Henry Wu. Sorkin had been kept on as a genetics consultant but her research had been slowly but consistently shunted to the side and she had ended up in a dead end corner of the company bound up tight with non-disclosure agreements. Susan had approached her early on and with a little persuasion and a lot of patients, Sorkin had agreed to become the new head of INGEN genetics.

"Well, the dinos are finally ready for show case." Dr. Sorkin comment non-commitally.

In truth, Dr. Sorkin always had more tweaks she'd like to apply to the animals. Like any creator, she was always the biggest critic of her work, a trait that had appealed to Susan's business sense. Still, none the less, they had finally worked the animals around to a point where they were both satisfied. It had taken the better part of two decades to undue the mess that Henry Wu had created. All the frog-dinos had been destroyed and replaced with the new stock. They had fixed the problems with the dinosaurs and though they might not be what people thought dinosaurs should look like but they were more close to true than ever before.

Ed Regis, the Jurassic Park PR Manager, beamed and leaned back in his chair putting his hands behind his head. Susan turned to him with a raised eyebrow. She had made him VP of Park relations but in truth she didn't like Regis very much. He was excellent at what he did but there was no doubt that he had what her father would have called "a deplorable excess of personality". He was like a cruise director on steroids.

"Well the park is ready at waiting!" he chirped happily.

Regis had been in charge of building the theme park part of Jurassic Park and he had come through in spades. Where they sat now, the board members could see the tops of the rides in the park over the tree tops. This had been step one of the plan. Susan had recognized that part of her father's downfall was that he had tried to be Walt Disney, without doing the work needed to make it play out right. Before you could make Disney World, you had to make Disney Land and before that Disney Studios. John Hammond had gone straight to the full blown park with all the bells and whistles, no waiting. But Susan and Regis saw the real road and now they had built the park first, keeping the animals separate, gaging how they behave, the requirements for their containment, all the while building and dealing with the requirements for a regular theme park.

They had opened Jurassic Park as a dinosaur theme park only eight years ago but already it was doing tremendously well. Most of the company's prime investors were Japanese and the Japanese devoured theme parks. So far, everything was running as planned, the rides all worked, the entertainment went off without a hitch and the guests left happy. Susan truly had "spared no expense" this time. The park was netting between 10 and 15 thousand guests a day and was currently rated as one of the top tourist destinations in the world. Everything had to be right with the theme park aspect of Jurasssic park, because the truth was that the ordinary average everyday theme park was the bread and butter of INGEN. The dinosaurs, their genetic research, were all just icing on the cake. Hammond had never realized that it was the Park and not the Jurassic that would be the money maker for Jurassic Park, he had been so obsessed with the dinosaurs that he had been blind to the opportunities that a theme park offered.

The theme of Jurassic Park was the dinosaurs of course, but the guests had no idea that while they were riding the spinning Dino eggs or the Terror-Soar roller coaster that INGEN had REAL dinosaurs under wraps on their Site B facility. They all oooed and ahhhed at their animatronic dinosaurs and stared in wonder at what might be behind the big gates with "Jurassic Park" written across the top that lead to the north part of the island. They had no idea that what the company was building behind that gate was something the likes of which no one had ever guessed.

It wasn't as though there hadn't been hints though. Three years ago Jurassic Park had debuted the Mesozoic Menagerie, a full on zoo and aquarium of living relics, animals older than the dinosaurs that were still alive in the world today. They had made headlines around the world for the resurrection of the baiji dolphin. These bizarre river dolphins had been declared extinct in 2013, INGEN had started a program to resurrect the baiji dolphin. It was a great publicity routine, and drew the eye of the world to the small island park off of Costa Rica. And honestly, after cloning dinosaurs from millions of years old bugs, resurrecting a recently extinct aquatic mammal was a breeze. It looked good in the papers and more important, it had prepared the world for things to come.


	2. Chapter 2 Raptor

Chapter 2: Raptor

Manny Price looked at the velociraptor before him. Lakota, the only surviving member of this hatching was hardly a cute baby. True, she was covered in fluffy down and would immediately turn to face anyone that came near her with her mouth open expecting to be fed, but raptor chicks were not very charismatic none the less. Like chicken chicks they were born with bulging blind eyes, soaked with egg fluid and unable to move beyond some weak half-flopping movements. However, by the time they had reached a few days old they were fully capable of standing on their own and had puffed out with downy soft feathers. Raptor chicks were about the same size as a turkey chick but were vomit colored and grey. The would wait with their mouths open, already with a mouth full of sharp little teeth for adults to throw up in their mouths or if they were old enough, drop tiny pieces of meat into their waiting maws and would flap their arms and make a bitchy squeaking- hissing noise if they weren't fed.

Velociraptors aged quickly and were lethal by eight months old, fully grown by a year, but most of the raptors in Jurassic Park never lived that long. Lakota was the 12th raptor born in this hatching, but was the only one to live beyond a few days. Infant mortality was very high in any genetically created animal, let alone a dinosaur who had been patched together out of DNA scraped from the stomach contents of a fossilized insect. Despite three decades of research, genetic yields in Jurassic Park were around 1.3%, which was still a huge improvement on the .25% it had been in the early days of the JP project. Manny lowered the head of the raptor puppet to drop a tiny piece of meat into Lakota's eager mouth.

Manny had become famous for his work with pack animals in Montana when he had been locally known as the "Real Wolfman". Manny found it to be a fairly apt description; he was in his mid-forties with a constant grizzled half growth of beard and long graying hair that he left hang loose down his back. A fairly broad nose and very bushy eyebrows, surrounded beetle black eyes in the tanned and weather worn face. Manny was a Sioux on his father's side and Mexican- American on his mother's side, but in truth with his grizzled appearance and wild nature is looked more like some Paleolithic Neanderthal stepped out of the past.

Manny had always been an outdoorsy sort and had been spending every spare moment he could find out in the Rocky Mountains and Big Sky Country. He had dropped off the radar completely after college, where he had done his graduate work on animal behaviors, and had moved to a cabin way out in the backwoods where his only neighbors were animals and trees. Living completely self-sufficiently from the land, Manny had only descended from his mountains to meet with his publicist to discuss his various books. Manny had written and drawn these books on the wildlife around his cabin and they were now a very popular series of science-minded guide books to bird, insect and plant life in the area. However, it had been his work with wolves that had really made Manny a legend. He had lived among them, a segregate member of their pack, for nearly four years and had written several books about pack dynamics and wolf behavior complete with full color illustrations done by Manny himself.

In the end, it had been these books that had drawn the attention of INGEN. Six years ago Manny had been more than a little surprised to return to his cabin one night to find a very pretty red-haired woman in khaki's waiting for him. He never got visitors least of all women, but he knew who she was immediately. Sarah Harding, the premiere expert on lions and hyenas in the world. He had been acutely aware of his hand made buckskin clothes and the fact that he must smell like wolf, since he had just been visiting with the pack, but Sarah didn't seem to care.

"D- Doctor Harding…" He said extending a hand, "I- What brings you to Montana?"

Sarah smiled and shook his hand without glancing twice at the dirt caked under the nails.

"I'm helping out with a study of big horn sheep, but since I was around anyway I wanted to come see you. I've read all your books. _Year of the Wolf_ was particularly interesting their acceptance of you is extraordinary."

"That's kind of you Dr. Harding" Manny said sheepishly

"Sarah." Sarah cut in, "Call me Sarah, everyone does."

"Okay, Sarah," Manny said with a smile, "I don't get to keep up with the scientific journals much out here, but I read that article you put out on the pack behavior of Hyenas a few months ago. Did they really trap you in a tree like a possum?"

Sarah laughed, "Oh yeah, that baobab tree was my home for three days before they pushed off finally."

Manny had invited her into his cabin and had spent an extremely enjoyable afternoon discussing the pack behavior of wolves and hyenas. It was a little towards dark when Sarah had mentioned her real purpose for visiting.

"Manny, I can completely understand if you wouldn't want to give this up, but me and my old man are working with a company that's working on something that's right up our alley. They asked me if I knew a good naturalist to supervise a small pack of animals for a zoo their developing. I think it would be right up your alley."

He frowned, in general Manny didn't approve of zoos, he thought that animals should be free to live the way that nature intended. However, when he had pointed this out to Sarah she had laughed and simply said that that would be somewhat difficult given the circumstances. She had explained that she couldn't go into details since she was bound by non-disclosure agreements, but that if he were up for a challenge that he should come down to Costa Rica and check it out for himself. He had, and what he had seen had made his jaw hit the floor.

Manny dropped tiny pieces of meat in Lakota's mouth using the raptor puppet to simulate an adult female raptor to get used to taking food from them. He had been present for the birth of every raptor from Jurassic Park's gen 2 project and had been with the raptors of gen 1 most of their lives as well. Lakota would be the ninth raptor in the Jurassic Park pack if she survived, and Manny believed she would, as long as she didn't try to pick a fight with Goldie the alpha.

He had been shocked at first at the vicious nature of the raptors, most of the raptors from gen 1 had killed each other off. They had been constantly in fighting and outright hostile to each other, which was very unusual with pack animals. Usually, a pack had a very firm and clearly established pecking order with the alpha at the top and the omega at the bottom. Everyone knew their place in the pack and the hierarchy was fiercely enforced, but not so with raptors. Right from the beginning Manny had observed that the structure was not really pack-like at all, it was more like a gang of chimps than a pack of wolves or lions. Every member of the pack below the alpha seemed to have equal standing in the group with had led to squabbles and in fighting which the Jurassic Park naturalists were at a loss to understand. It had been Manny that had discovered the cause; he had found that the raptors were badly suited to life in captivity. The more you tried to control them, the more they rebelled and even though they were dinosaurs, you couldn't treat them the same way as you could treat the T-rex and expect it to work. It was a question of their niche, while the scavenging Tyrannosaur was perfectly happy being feed dead meat or captive prey, the velociraptors decidedly did not.

Without the unifying drive of the hunt, the raptor's killer instincts had overflowed with disastrous results. Only Goldie, Bertha and Lucy were left from the original pack, all the others had been killed by their sisters. Manny had pushed hard and finally had been given what he had asked for, largely enclosures for the raptors and live wild prey to hunt. The bean counters had fussed that the dinosaurs were expensive and that they might get hurt in a live hunt, but Manny had finally won with the argument that NOT providing them with sufficient outlet for their hunting skills was killing them all. In the end, they had agreed to the larger enclosure, giving the raptors room to run and a habitat they seemed to like but had still been hesitant to release live wild prey. In the end, Manny had done it anyway, he had a deer brought in and released it into the raptor's enclosure the result of this hunt was immediate and overwhelming. Faced with real, wild, terrified, prey that was free to run and fight back, the raptors had gelled into a cohesive fighting force almost overnight.

"They're like jelly donuts." Manny had explained, "If you try to put your finger on the hole to stop the jelly squirting out, it just comes out somewhere else. Treat them like zoo animals and they get bored and their killer instincts turn back on themselves, but let them hunt and it squirts out where it needs to be and they calm down. The more you try to get them to behave the more they will resist you, it's simply not in their nature."

In light of this, Jurassic Park had formed a deer park as part of their formal gardens. Not one of the guests that patted the friendly, human loving, deer realized that they would ultimately end with a terrified chase and an unpleasant death at the hand of the JP raptor pack. Still, the deaths of some common mule deer had meant the salvation of the raptor pack. Oh, there was still infighting occasionally, but the fights were much less serious and never ended in fatalities. Moreover, the raptors had counterintuitively become more manageable around humans. Manny and his team were able to walk (carefully) right in among the pack in relative safety, though Manny never liked bringing in more men than was strictly needed. No point taking chances. The fact was that these animals were unpredictable and could turn on you in a heartbeat if you weren't really careful.

Manny found them fascinating, and spent all his spare time studying the raptors. He could recognize every member of the pack from a distance, just from the way she carried herself. They knew and trusted Manny, they had known him from the moment they were born and would likely know him until the moment they died. The raptors were about the same size as wolves, only much longer but the way they walked bobbing their heads, combined with their iridescent green- blue feathers gave them a very birdlike appearance. They had long feathers on their arms which were like proto-wings which they used for changing directions quickly without slacking their speed, which was incredibly fast for a biped. All and all the raptors reminded Manny of land based falcons, which he considered, they likely were. He had been told that to fill the gene sequence gaps the genetists had used a combination of falcon, raven and cassowary DNA, to make dinos that were light, fast, and intelligent.

Manny was just finishing up with Lakota when his radio chirped, it was Gerry Harding, VP of Product. Harding had been brought on to the JP early on as a vet, today he was the overseer for every animal at the INGEN facilities. Manny knew that Harding would only be calling if it was important; probably he was calling all dino heads with results of the corrumn.

"Comeback." Manny said into the radio as he left the nursery.

"Manny, the corrumn has voted to move forward with step two. How soon can you and your team prep the girls for travel?" Harding asked over the radio.

"We should be all set in about four days." Manny said looking at his work schedule, he was going to have to get his team together if they were going to relocate the pack. "So we're going to finally go for it huh?"

"10-4" Harding responded, he didn't sound excited. "Over and out."

Manny re-clipped the radio to his belt and rubbed his hands together, he had work to do.


	3. Chapter 3 Transport

Chapter 3: Transport

Triceratops 6 (7?), Tyrannosaurus Rex 1, Velociraptor 8 (9?), Stegosaurus 6, Parasaurolophus 10, Gallimimus 24 (25?), Brachiosaurus 4, Apatosaurus 4, Dilophosaurus 2, Compsognathus 36, Pteranodon 9, Pachycephalosaurus 11, Spinosaurus 1, Ankylosaurus 5, Dimorphodon 17, Mosasaurus 1

Total animals 161

Transporting any large animal is always a challenge but transporting over 160 dinosaurs was a monumental task. Gerry Harding watched as the helicopter slowly lowered the sleeping Triceratops into her new paddock. They had bred all the dinosaurs on Isla Sorna, studied their behavior and their habitats so that when they moved them to their new homes they knew what to expect. That had been one of the tremendous flaws in the original JP project had been that they had tried to establish the systems for controlling the dinosaurs before they knew what sort of behavior to expect from the animals. Admittedly, you never really knew what to expect when you were containing a species you had never had in a zoo before, but the fact was that some animals responded differently to captivity than others.

Harding knew that the animals needed to be watched, some of them were natural cage breakers. The raptors had always been getting out of their old cage with disastrous results and the Trikes were the same way, they used their horns to open the cage doors and were constantly getting out. The best way to deal with cage breakers was to remove the cage, or more specifically, make them forget that there was a cage between them.

Sarah had told him about her work in Africa, elephants were always getting out of cages in zoos and parks, they were famous for it, but in Africa they tended to stay in game reserves because the reserve was big enough that the elephants didn't realize that they were in a very big cage. Today they were moving the entire Trike herd over to Isla Nublar starting with the big matriarch. It had been decided that the Trikes would be put in the main field, the largest area on the island, alongside the stegos, paras, anks, brackies and apatos. The field had been cleared during the fire-bombing of Isla Nublar after the initial breakdown in the 90's. "Operation Clean Slate" had left the island barren and devoid of all life, but ripe for terraforming. The broad sweeping savannah that they had today on the island always reminded Harding forcefully of the velt in Africa, but he knew that the quick growing grass that they had planted across the main paddock was the only chance of even attempting to keep the main field populated with grass once they moved the animals in.

The simple fact was that deforestation was a problem in every zoo. When Harding had been working with the San Diego zoo he had observed that no matter how much hay you brought in for ground grazers like rhinos or elephants to eat, they were constantly eating the native plants as well. A group of only four or five rhinos could clear a paddock of all vegetation in less than a single season. Big animals ate almost constantly and some of these dinosaurs were among the largest animals that ever lived. The brachiosaurs weighed about 60 tons each and such an animal required A LOT of food. The problem of deforestation had been so monumental that INGEN had even looked into GMO plants in some of their other branches. The genetics team had created a type of super grass that grew exponentially faster than normal grass and had tougher seed cases so that the animals dung would fertilize the seeds and make them grow. They had been very wary of any effect that the super grass had on the animals but as far as they could tell, the dinosaurs suffered no ill effects from eating the super grass.

Moving the animals always gave Harding heartburn. There were so many factors to be considered; correct dosage of tranquilizer, careful handling, monitoring the animals vitals, making sure that they adjusted to their new home, making sure they weren't overly stressed and so on and on. Harding had become an expert on anesthetizing dinosaurs and had passed on everything he knew to all of his subordinates but it was still a challenge. Too much tranquilizer and the animal could slip into a coma and die, too little and their bird-like metabolism would burn through the sedative and the animal would come awake mid transfer.

Transporting an adult triceratops was like shipping an Abrahams tank, they were about the same size and weight. The difference was that you didn't need to worry about the tank waking up halfway through the ten minute flight between Isla Sorna and Nublar and trying to break free of its transport pod. Despite their bulk and muscle, dinosaurs were highly susceptible to damage, the air sacks and hollows in their bones meant that their bones were prone to breakage. And damage to the dinos was bad news because not only would the bean counters get into a snit and start barreling around puffing and blowing in managerial rage, but if the damage was sufficient, they might need to put the animal down, and they were expensive.

It was only in recent years that the discovery had been made that triceratops and toroceratops were the same animal. Harding had only seen a toroceratops skeleton after he had already seen the real thing so he wasn't surprised by the news. Everyone was surprised to learn that a triceratops had been only an immature version of the toroceratops, but of course they hadn't had the benefit of watching one grow up right in front of them. People just couldn't wrap their heads around the idea that an animal that weighed eight tons and was twenty-seven feet long wasn't an adult. The scale of the size of dinosaurs and the length of their lives was hard for some people to understand.

Big Mama, the matriarch trike was the only full grown animal in the JP heard but she was enormous, nearly ten tons on her. Harding had worked with trikes before but this new stock were different than the first round he had encountered. Big Mama was entirely unlike the original trikes, she had a fair amount of rhinoceros DNA as well as some kiwi and iguana in her make up. She was a muddy orange in color with markings like blazing red and blue eyes on her crest and a bright blue and black snout and muzzle. The trike's skull was nearly ten feet long, the frill on the back like a kite shield. Lines of quill feathers, eighteen inches long, ran down her back and tail. Her huge chest rose and fell with her rhythmic breathing, she was giving regular low grunts.

Harding turned at the sound of helicopters, the next wave was coming in. The transport of the animals was taking all hands on deck to manage. Jess and Sarah, Harding's daughters, were helping with the move. They had to transport the whole herd at once or they would panic; without their matriarch the herd would go to pieces. Several chinook helicopters were lowering the transport pods with the other trikes.

Harding headed over to wear Jess was gesturing to the moving crew who were already unclipping the transport pod and opening the doors. Heavy duty fork lifts were standing by to drag the sleeping trikes out of the pods so the pods could be picked up by the choppers again. Jessica "Jess" Harding was a pretty brunette woman in her mid-30s. Today she was wearing a pair of dirty jeans and a somewhat faded Jurassic Park t-shirt. She had on her white girl huge tinted sunglasses and was puffing on a cigarette. Harding plucked the cig out her mouth and extinguished it in the moist grass.

"Jessie, how many times do I have to tell you no smoking around the animals." He said on a sigh. His daughter had been secretly smoking since she was 13 but that didn't make Harding any happier about it.

"Sorry dad." Jess said penitently, "I'm just so on edge with the move, you know?"

Harding straightened and grimaced.

"I know what you mean. I've been popping Tums like M&M's." He said rubbing the sweat from his face. "Any problems with the transport?"

"Nah, a couple of the girls were a little groggy and wondered around for a while after we tranked them but they went down no problem."

"Well that's good, let go ahead and get them-"

Harding broke off at a low rumbling bellowing sound behind them and the sounds of men shouting. Turning, Harding saw that Big Mama was on her feet, her head shaking uncertainly, drool cascading out of her open beaky mouth. The workers had immediately gotten clear of the big dinosaur, but the draw straps that had been attached to the trike's harness were still connected to the forklift which had just pulled her from the transport pod. Big Mama's eyes were blurry and she staggered as she tried to walk but it was clear the tranks were wearing off.

"Shit!" Harding swore as he and Jess ran across the field towards the standing trike.

Big Mama rumbled again and then seemed to notice the straps for the first time. She shook her massive head as though trying to clear it and bellowed again.

"We've got to get those straps off her! If she decides to go she'll pull that forklift around like a little red wagon." Harding said crouching as the big tail swung over his head, "Jess, get everybody back, she disoriented right now, if they get to close they might frighten her into charging."

Trikes were prone to charging things because their eyesight was poor. They had had trouble with that before, which was part of the reason that Harding had been so worried about moving the trikes like this. He had seen what a trike could do to a piece of machinery if it took a mind to. Despite their size a trike could and would charge at speeds of over 30mph and when something of that much mass got into motion anything it hit was in big trouble.

Harding looked around at Big Mama to see that she had stopped and had turned to face a figure in a ball cap and khaki's. Sarah Harding was moving towards Big Mama slowly, side on, all the while speaking softly in a low soothing voice, her hands held out to the big dinosaur. She had plenty of experience with dangerous herbivores from her years in Africa, but Sarah could feel her legs trembling as she edged closer to the big trike.

"Woah there… easy girl… everything is fine." Sarah soothed as she drew slowly closer, "Everything is just fine. I'm just going to unclip you and you'll be free. Everything is fine…"

Sarah's eyes never moved from the big trike, but she stayed low and moved closer, talking all the while, her voice calm and soothing. Big Mama took an uncertain step backward and shook her big head at Sarah grunting uncertainly. Sarah was only a few feet from the dinosaur now, still moving slowly she stretched out her hand towards Big Mama like you do to a dog you've just met so it can get your scent. Harding was both terrified and impressed at his daughter's daring. Big Mama rumbled deep in her throat as Sarah came close enough to touch her beaky snout. Harding could see that Big Mama's frill had flushed red as a warning and the big animal shuffled her feet, but she was holding her ground. Sarah left her hand on the trike's beak for a long moment still talking softly to her, allowing the trike to sniff her fingers, before moving slowly to the side of the big head.

Big Mama pivoted her head on its ball joint keep Sarah in sight as she moved down towards the harness, still speaking softly, never taking her eyes off the animal's face. Slowly, very slowly she moved her hand up to the huge carabineer. She unclasped the carabineer with a metallic clank, the trike snorted and moved to the side in several shuffling steps. Sarah froze as Big Mama shook her head and bellowed again. After a moment she very slowly started to crouch to put the carabineer down, but Big Mama bellowed again and moved away from Sarah, the second strap snapped and dangled loose by the trikes side. Big Mama turned to face Sarah, but she was backing away. The big trike snorted, shook her head one final time and then turning lumbered off in the direction of the lake, still dragging the remains of the second strap.

Harding and Jess hurried over to Sarah who had stood shakily. She was drenched in sweat but when she spoke her voice was calm.

"We can get the harness off later, it'll be annoying but I don't think it'll hurt her at all."

"Shit Sarah! Is that all you've got to say for yourself?!" Harding said wiping his face with a shaking hand, "What the fuck were you thinking?! She could have stomped you into the ground for Christ's sake!"

Sarah shrugged and gave a half smile, "It had to be done dad. Besides, it's no different than facing down a water buffalo and I've done that plenty of times."

Harding gave a tired laugh and pulled his daughter into a one armed hug.

"It's a little different." He said with a chuckle.


	4. Chapter 4 Earth First

"Hell no! GMO! HELL NO GMO!"

Laura Sorkin rolled her eyes and blew out a sigh. She was so sick of these mindless protestors. She was willing to bet that most of the rabble outside was the usual modern environmentalists, modern in so far as that they thought that all corporations were evil, technology was the devil and so on. As a geneticist, Laura had put up with idiots like this her entire working life, but that didn't make it any easier. Never mind that the product they were protesting was a super grain that had the potential to provide a renewable, natural, feed source that could feed all the cattle in the world indefinitely. But no, the only thing they cared about was that the new super grain was a genetic hybrid of wheat, fast growing bamboo and a slightly modified grass with more durable seeds.

GMO's were the buzz word of the generation, but it was shocking how little people understood what GMO's were. The fact was that GMO's were nothing that people hadn't been doing for centuries, selecting the traits they found desirable and encouraging them. Only now instead of doing it over the course of generations, they were able to do it in a laboratory. But contrary to popular opinion not all genetically modified organisms were virulent and pervasive things.

Granted, some genetics companies were unscrupulous and did have a propensity to cause troubles for themselves. Companies like Bio-Syn and Monsanto, who modified willy-nilly without regard for the impact of their actions made her sick, they gave genetics companies a bad name that affected everyone. Since she had become head of Genetics at INGEN Sorkin had worked hard to ensure that all of their products were stable, safe and beneficial. Protests like the one going on outside the INGEN crop development office, were so ready to vilify that they seldom listened to the facts. She had offered tours of their facility again and again, but she had always been turned down. After all, why should facts get in the way of perfectly good opinions, right?

Sorkin had flown in from Costa Rica this morning but was already dreading the ordeal before her. Ever since she had become VP of Genetics at INGEN, Laura Sorkin had spent way more time talking to the press than she had in the lab. It bothered her, press was supposed to be Regis' domain and yet it seemed like she was getting called in every few months to make a statement on one thing or another. Today she was supposed to be giving an interview regarding the recent bombing of the INGEN crops department research facility. Some god damned Eco terrorists had broke in and destroyed hundred of thousands of dollars of damage. Ed Regis had his hands full with the campaign for the opening of the Jurassic Park animal park to handle a break in like this.

The first thing she had seen upon driving up to the facility was groups of protestors with signs and slogans like "Earth First" and "no GMO". Erica Fitsgerald, Regis' assistant looked out of the window of the SUV's window. Erica was very perky girl in her early 20's, she was wearing a scoop neck sweater that showed a LOT of cleavage, and Sorkin could tell why Regis had picked her as his assistant. Regis had been married four times and always had an eye open for women with big boobs. Sorkin found Erica's boundless enthusiasm annoying.

"Golly it sure looks like they're mad huh Dr. Sorkin?" Erica chirped cheerfully.

"Yeah." Sorkin blew out on a sigh, "That's probably why they blew up our lab."

"Woah!" Erica gasped her eyes wide, "Like, you think these are, like, the same guys? Why would they come and protest if, like, they had already done the exploding?"

"Nevermind Erica…" Sorkin said blowing out a long sigh and rolling her eyes

Several hours later, Laura Sorkin sat opposite a reporter on the sound stage. He was the usual charismatic, tanned, floating head type guy you always saw on news programs like this. Sorkin found herself staring at his unusually bright white teeth, his words just sort of washing over her. He was asking all the usual questions right up until he announced that they had a special guest on the show and issued in Nick Van Owen, head of Earth First.

Nick Van Owen was a handsome fellow in his early forties, but Sorkin knew his reputation very well. He was the legitimate face for ecoterrorism in the United States, nothing had ever been brought against him but he was certainly very well informed about several corporate sabotage maneuvers over the last ten years. He was casually dressed with a navy blue t-shirt, tan sports coat and Chinos. He smiled pleasantly enough at Dr. Sorkin as he sat down, but she didn't return the smile. She shouldn't be dealing with this guy, this was supposed to be Regis' domain, he might be a worm, but at least he was good at being a worm.

"Now Dr. Sorkin," the host said cheerfully, "Can you tell us a bit more about this super grain. Mr. Van Owen claims that his organization has evidence that the grain maybe hazardous for consumption. Would you care to respond to that?"

Laura sat forward in her chair and steepled her fingers looking over the top of them at Nick Van Owen.

"That's ridiculous. The super grain is a modified, fast growing, high yield, wheat and nothing more. I can personally assure you that we have run extensive testing of the super grain and have not noticed any digestive or other issues in livestock."

"Ah, I see the confusion now Dr. Sorkin." Nick Van Owen said with a smirk, "You see I wasn't speaking of digestive problems in livestock but rather in humans. My studies have shown that the grain is indigestible by humans, there have been several cases of complications caused from eating the super grain."

"Well there's your problem then!" Sorkin said in an exasperated voice, throwing her hands up, "The super grain was designed to survive the digestive system of large herbivorous animals. It was never meant for human consumption. We designed it to be a new feed for cattle, not to make bread with!"

"Cattle?" Nick asked with raised eyebrow, "I wasn't aware that your company was interested in food production. Tell me, if you're developing this super grain as a feed for animals, why is it that it has not been marketed to the farming industry? My sources tell me that IGT is keeping all the super grain for their personal use. And this isn't the first time either, several years ago IGT quietly bought a small plastics company that were making synthetic egg shells. Now Dr. Sorkin, I'd be very interested to know why IGT seems to be prepping for large scale animal production."

Sorkin had to admit, the little twerp had definitely done his homework. This wasn't Sorkin's field, she made genetically engineered creatures. She wasn't a goddam PR person. She knew full well that she didn't have the authority to tell Van Owen the truth about what they were really doing, but it would be really satisfying. Instead, Sorkin plastered a pleasant smile on her face and gave a bit of the official line.

"International Genetics Technology LLC is one of the top genetic engineering firms in the world Mr. Van Owen. We have many different experiments involving animal growth and development. We need the super grain for feed for our test animals and we need the synthetic eggs to monitor embryo development, I can assure you that it is all very straight forward."

After the interview Sorkin was heading back to the limo when she was stopped by the sight of Nick Van Owen standing with his arms crossed over his chest, by the back door to the studio. He nodded acknowledgement and fell into step next to Sorkin.

"That was very interesting what you said back there Dr. Sorkin." Nick said with a smirk, "I really have to hand it to you, that was very good. You were able to tell the exact truth and not answer my questions directly at the same time. Very good indeed."

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Sorkin said flatly.

Nick chuckled and reached into the pocket of his sports coat. He removed a small packet of photographs and handed it over to Sorkin.

"Some of my best work, back when I was a field documentarian. The films a little gritty but you can make them out no problem. See, a few years back I was hired by this wild company named INGEN."

Sorkin's eyes grew huge as she looked at the photographs but said nothing.

"They'd made genetically engineered dinosaurs. Can you believe that? Wild company… They had an island, down in Costa Rica, where I'm told your company has a dinosaur themed amusement park." Nick continued smiling pleasantly, "So tell me again Dr. Sorkin, what are you using the synthetic eggs for?"


	5. Chapter 5 Welcome to Jurassic Park

Ed Regis beamed at the small news pool before him. Regis was in his element, the consummate showman. The press conference he had called were still taking their seats but it looked like the gang was all here. CNN, CBS, NBC, FOX, BBC… all the major news syndicates had sent representatives and Regis new them all. He had worked as PR Manager for Disney originally and knew how to play to the crowd. He rubbed his hands together gleefully at the thought of their faces when he unveiled the animals to them.

However Regis' smile faded somewhat when he caught sight of a petite woman with bleached blonde hair in a brown suit coat and mini skirt. Desiree Thompkins was a reporter for News Week and very much the Lois Lane sort of woman. She was a woman that would go to any lengths for a story and had won two Pulitzer prizes for her "hard hitting journalism". Of course Regis new better. Desiree was a spin doctor and a total bitch. The facts didn't matter as long as the story were compelling and she coul make or break a new campaign. Politicians quivered whenever Desiree walked in a room, and she greatly enjoyed the sense of power that gave her.

Regis had crossed swords with Desiree several times in the past and the two were perpetual antagonists. If there was any dirt to dig up it was a fair bet that Desiree would find it and Regis knew that she probably had made up her mind already in regards to Jurassic Park and that made him nervous. She was the sort of woman that Regis hated, mostly because he could never decide if he'd rather fuck her or strangle her. Desiree said something to her camera man, shot Regis a snarky smirk and sat herself down in the front row.

"Ladies and Gentlemen… Welcome! Welcome to Jurassic Park." Regis said spreading his arms behind the podium, "Let me tell you a story about a man named John Hammond. I man with a dream of a beautiful park where all the children of the world could come to see living biological attractions so astounding that it would capture their imaginations for a lifetime. It would be a feeling that transcended mere amusement, something that was tangible. Something they could see and touch. Well today, John Hammond's dream will come true. The tour you are about to take is a momentous occasion, you will be the first guests to see the new expansion to Jurassic Park, the most advanced theme park in the entire world. What you will see, no one beyond Jurassic Park employees have ever seen. I personally guarantee what you will see will drive you out of your minds."

Desiree watched Regis, he was laying it on thick. She recognized the candor but she wasn't buying the hype. This park had gain notoriety recently with their cloning of the Baiji dolphin which was the only reason Desiree was sitting here now. She didn't remotely care about the "Dino Disneyland" as her editor had put it. She had her story already in mind, "International Genetics Technology Seeks to Draw Attention Away From GMO Grain Scandal". It had a nice ring to it, she thought, and better still it would make Regis squirm.

Regis talked for a little while longer, but deferred on questions until after their tour. He said that they would have lots more questions after the ride than before. Then they were chivied out of the welcome center and out into the Coasta Rican heat. They boarded several hybrid SUV's and drove through the streets of the amusement park.

Desiree looked languidly out of the window of her car as Regis' voice came out of the Bluetooth speaker system plugged into the stereo system. She was bored, looking out of the windows at all the sun burned tourists with their super excited kids wearing dinosaur t-shirts. The vehicles traveled around through the park, Regis pointing out the various rides and attractions, before they headed north. Soon they were immersed in lush jungle and then before them the trees cleared before them and they saw a huge gateway with torches in brackets on either side, it read "Jurassic Park" across the top. It loomed up above the vehicles and opened automatically as they approached.

"Psh." Desiree snorted as they drove through the gateway, "What is this, King Kong?"

The cars pulled around to an artfully arranged building and the press representatives got out. The building was a sort of concrete amphitheater with high walls and hanging buttresses for support. It was a huge structure and there was a replica of a T-Rex skeleton carved into the wall of the building. When they disembarked, the reporters were greeted at the entrance by a man in a red long sleeve shirt with the sleeves rolled up, jeans and a safari hat.

"Hi everybody." Gerry Harding said tipping his hat to the reporters, "My name is Gerry Harding and I'm Vice President of Product here in Jurassic Park. What your about to see usually comes at the end of our tour, but Mr. Regis wanted to start you guys off with our best foot forward. If you will please follow me up to the observatory, we'll introduce you to Mona."

Desiree walked through the short patch of mud near the vehicles as though it were toxic ooze and didn't return Harding's smile.

"So what's the deal Ed?" She asked in a bitchy sort of voice, "Why can't you just TELL us why we're wandering around in the jungle like this? It's a million degrees out here! Gawd!"

Harding grimaced at Regis as he followed Desiree up the stairs to the observatory.

"Right little ray of sunshine isn't she?" Harding as Regis as he passed.

"You have no idea." Regis said with an eye roll as he went up the stairs.

Regis entered the observatory, which was a small cavernous sort of room with long but narrow window, curving around one side. The window was thick acrylic and was deep set into the curving concrete wall, through it they could see about twenty feet of cleared space and then thick humid jungle. A low mist rose from the steaming jungle and hung in the air amidst the trees.

"What are we supposed to be looking at?" Desiree asked, her arms crossed over her chest and her hip stuck out.

Before Regis could answer there was a mechanical whirring sound, a trap door opened in the clearing below them and an elevator platform raised into view. Draped across the platform was a dead cow carcass, freshly slaughtered.

"Oh that's charming." Desiree said wrinkling her nose.

The crowd of reporters were muttering to themselves when suddenly silence fell. The observation platform had shaken slightly, then again and again. The shaking was subtle but distinguishable, and it continued again and again, growing closer. Then the sound stopped, silence fell over the room. Regis smiled and watched as one by one the members of the press stared out of the window, their eyes growing huge.

Regis looked out of the window as well. At first he didn't see anything, but then realized that he was looking in the wrong place. He raised his eyes slowly up and up and then he saw it. There was a head behind the foliage, a huge head with heavily veiled eyes under boney brow ridges. A pair of piercingly bright ice blue eyes gleamed unblinking under the brow ridges and the skin of the head was pebbled and blood red. Nostrils, big enough for a man to put his full fist into sniffed the air tentatively.

And then, slowly, almost tentatively the dinosaur stepped from the cover of the trees. The reporters took several steps back, some of them swore under their breath, terror written clear across their faces.

"Sweet Jesus!" Desiree breathed, her eyes wide as saucers. "W- What the fuck is that thing?!"

By this time the animal had moved completely into the open and slowly, as though it were checking if the coast were clear, the Tyrannosaurus Rex moved to the carcass. The beast was enormous, the size and weight of a city bus, its body was covered in short somewhat fluffy brown and black feathers and white down covered its belly, but the head was completely naked of feathers. All in all, it looked like some monstrous bird, a condor of unparalleled size. In two strides the big dinosaur had crossed to the carcass and, stooping, it opened its huge jaws, exposing teeth the size of bananas. The big Rex seized one of the cow's legs in its maw and with a single twitch of the head, tore the leg free as easily as tearing the wings off a fly. It swallowed the leg whole, bones crunching under the pressure of the monstrous bite.

Suddenly, the rex's head snapped up and it stared straight at the observation room. Regis knew that the animal couldn't see them, it was one way treated and camouflaged from the other side so that the dinosaur couldn't see in. Still, he felt a thrill shoot through him at the fierce glare of those blue eyes. The rex was swiveling its head back and forth, as though it were listening and then it opened it's terrible mouth… and roared!

Even through the thick acrylic, the sound was deafening. A bellowing rumbling blast, like the call of a bird magnified many hundreds of times. At this the press lost it completely, many of them scrambled away from the window in sheer panic. Desiree fell over as she tried to scramble away from the window and screamed with her hands over her ears.

The rex was still turning its head from side to side, listening for any response to its challenge but there was none. There was a long pause and then the T- rex bent down seized the remains of the carcass in its jaws and lifted it high into the air and in a moment it had returned to the jungle in a swish of tail feathers.

"Mona Lisa, everyone!" Regis said, trying to keep the quaver out of his voice. Even though he had known they were completely safe, the rex roar had still shaken him badly. "If you'll come with me back to the cars, we'll explore some of the other paddocks here in Jurassic Park."

As they exited, Regis looked over to see Gerry Harding, barely containing a smile to the side of the stairs.

"Jesus Gerry," Regis said standing next to him watching the shell-shocked reports climb back into the cars. Desiree in particular looked like she had just seen a ghost and was visibly shaking as she maneuvered back down the stairs. "When I said I wanted a good entrance, I didn't expect that! How did you get her to roar like that?"

Harding laughed.

"Oh it wasn't hard, I just played some recorded rex noises and she thought there was another rex in her turf. She wasn't about to let that stand so she issued a challenge."

"I didn't hear anything." Regis said, perplexed.

"No, well you wouldn't." Harding said leaning back with his hands in his pockets, "Tyrannosaurs communicate sub sonically like crocodiles or elephants, it's way too low for human ears to hear. But she heard it no problem."

"No kidding, I thought Desiree was about to piss herself she was so scared."

"So it was worth it then?" Harding asked with a smirk

"Totally!" Regis laughed.


	6. Chapter 6 Lab

Laura Sorkin clasped her hands in front of her and looked around at the assembled press. She didn't usually like talking to the press, but at the moment she was in her element. The press people had just returned from the park and they had the star struck, half dazed, expressions that usually followed someone's first encounter with a dinosaur. Now they were all gathered in the spotless lab in the Jurassic Park Genetics center. Technicians were scrambling around, looking busy, but Sorkin wasn't remotely worried, she had prepped for twenty years for this day.

"Ladies and Gentlemen" She said with a small smile, "I'm Laura Sorkin Vice President of Genetics for IGT. I think I am a correct in saying that at this moment you are feeling a little lost and confused, so let me see if I can clear things up for you. Our story begins…"

Dr. Sorkin crossed to a large display shelf and gestured to racks of amber with insects fossilized inside.

"Right here. The question we faced was; how do you find millions of years old dinosaur DNA? The theory, was that back in the dinosaur days there were mosquitos and other biting insects and that those insects would feed on the blood of dinosaurs. Supposedly, you could scrape the stomachs of those fossil insects and collect trace amounts of dinosaur DNA. Well, you can, and we did. However, one of the most fundamental problems we face is DNA degradation. DNA molecules breakdown fairly quickly and after five million years it's so degraded that it's practically useless."

One of the reporters raised a hand and Laura nodded to him generously.

"Uh… Dr. Sorkin? If the DNA degrades after five million years how can you clone animals that died 65 million years ago?"

"Oh very much older than that." Sorkin said with a smirk, "Some of our dinosaur species date from 199 million years ago. In addition to the DNA from fossilized insects, we discovered that trace amounts of DNA linger in the fossilized bones of dinosaurs and that by grinding down and analyzing these fragments we can get a more complete look at the molecule. However, even then, the most complete DNA molecule we have ever compiled is 12.6% of the full strand and that's nowhere NEAR enough to clone from, so how do we do it?"

Sorkin moved over to the large monitor screen behind her and flicked through images of the animals in Jurassic Park. She settled on an image of the Tyrannosaur. She stepped away from the monitor and the image of the rex started to rotate digitally.

"In order to clone the animals we have to fill the gene sequence gaps with cap DNA. We take the complete DNA of surviving animals and use it to fill in the necessary gaps in the genetic code. In general, we try to pick animals that are either descended from the dinosaurs we want to clone, or that fill a similar ecological niche. Mona Lisa, our Tyrannosaur, is made up with DNA from marabou storks, condors, golden eagles and salt water crocodiles. We breed the animals to be as close to what we know they were like from the fossil record as possible and bingo."

Desiree frowned and raised her hand in question.

"So what you're saying is that these animals aren't really dinosaurs, they're just modified birds and stuff?" She asked, her pencil poised over her notebook.

"That's quite correct." Sorkin said with a slight nod, "None of the animals we have here in Jurassic Park are true dinosaurs. They look like dinosaurs, move like dinosaurs, but they are entirely not dinosaurs. In reality these are genetic chimeras and nothing more."

Sorkin smiled and chuckled a little.

"But try explaining that to the fourth graders." She said with a grin, "And really, that's who all this is for. Kids love dinosaurs and you can tell them that all birds are really dinosaurs until you're blue in the face but they'll never believe you."

Sorkin lead the group through the lab to several animal cages, one of which held a large parrot. She feed the parrot a biscuit and scratched it on the top its head. The parrot nipped playfully at one her fingers and then scrambled onto her outstretched hand.

"This is George. He is by far the most legitimate dinosaur on the whole island, but as I said, you show him to the fourth graders and they'll say 'no it's a parrot'. See, people have an idea in their heads about dinosaurs. They think they're big and scary, covered in leathery hide with dragging tails and tiny brains. But the fact is that none of that is true. What we are trying to do here at Jurassic Park is to change 100 years of entrenched dogma about dinosaurs. The goal is to get the fourth graders to alter their ideas about dinosaurs, if we can do that, we can change everyone's ideas."

"So are all the dinosaurs on the island chimeras?" one of the reporters asked.

"Yes they are." Sorkin said, "Though some more so than others."

Sorkin clicked another button of the console and an image of a velociraptor appeared on the screen. The adult had beautiful blue-green iridescent feathers covering its body. It looked like a bird and for a moment no one said anything.

"Our velociraptors are the most true to original that we have in Jurassic Park. Small predatory dinosaurs like velociraptor were some of the very last dinosaurs to die out. Everyone thinks that the dinosaurs all blinked out at once. The meteor came down and… poof! But the truth is that they struggled on for nearly a million years after the impact. Most of the big ones like Tyrannosaurus couldn't handle the climate changes and went down but the little dromaeosaurs like the raptors held on right to the end. The DNA samples that we received from raptor specimens were the most complete we found. For our velociraptors we combined DNA from Velociraptor mongoliensis and Velociraptor osmolskae, but even then we only got 12.6% full strand. However, we also mixed in some Deinonychus DNA, a larger but contemporary species of raptor from North America and knocked the total up to 30.7% full strand. The result is that our raptors, while not being any true raptor species, are at least more true-dinosaur than any other species in Jurassic Park. That's not to say they aren't capped though, we used DNA from secretary birds, cassowaries and hawks to fill in the gaps."

"Do you know what caps were used on every animal?" One of the reporters asked and Sorkin nodded.

"Yes, we have done very serious research into every one of the genetic donors. We use exclusively reptilian, avian and mammalian DNA."

"Mammalian? You mean you cross breed with mammals?" Desiree asked looking surprised.

"Only in the case of some of our larger herbivores." Sorkin said, pulling up an image of a Stegosaurus. "Some of the larger species we couldn't find any reptiles or birds that fill the same ecological niche. For our stegosaurs for example, we used frilled lizard for heat control and ground parrot for beak and digestion, but a decent portion of the DNA came from a horse. The trick is that all birds are dinosaurs, but not all dinosaurs were birds. We needed a large, warm blooded, grass feeding animal for the stegos and horses fit the bill very well. It's not as bizarre as it sounds though, don't forget that mammals evolved from reptiles the same as birds did, so a lot of mammalian base DNA is the same as a reptile's. We used elephant and giraffe DNA for the apatosaurs and brachiosaurs as well, mostly to help with blood circulation and bone density."

"What about the animals that breed in the wild?" one of the reporters asked, "how do you monitor their genetics?"

Sorkin paused and looked firmly at the questioner.

"The animals CAN'T breed in the wild or anywhere else. Population control is one of our chief concerns. Every animal in Jurassic Park is female, which isn't difficult to regulate as all vertebrate embryos are inherently female anyway they just need a Y chromosome at the correct stage of development to make them male, we just deny them that. Not only that, but we are extremely careful that none of the donor species can change sex under any circumstance. You might know that some west African frogs can change sex from female to male in a single sex environment, however, such behavior has not been observed in any reptile or bird species that we use for our donors. There have also been cases of reptiles, lizards especially, reproducing asexually, however we do not use DNA from such species and use the reproductive genes of bird donors for the sexual development. The final security check comes from the nature of the animals themselves. Genetic hybrids generally are not fertile. A horse and a mule can cross breed to make a jack ass, but said jack ass cannot reproduce or if it can, it can only reproduce with a member of one of its parent species; a horse or a mule, not another jack ass. In such cases, cross species breeding is possible only in cases where the genes are similar enough between the two species to allow for fertilization. However, with the animals in Jurassic Park, we are combining WIDELY divergent species; it would be like trying to get a horse to breed with a cow. Just because they both have hooves doesn't mean they are closely related. Our animals are unique genetic hybrids, made of the DNA of several animal species. They cannot breed. We also sterilize every animal in Jurassic Park both chemically and physically and every dinosaur has a hysterectomy procedure done on her at birth. Breeding is not only a major environmental concern, but is also a major health concern for our animals. Egg production takes a lot of work and resources on the part of the mother and can be very detrimental to the animal's health. Since these animals represent many thousands of man hours in work and research, as well as a significant cost, we take every precaution to keep them healthy and happy."

"So you breed all the dinosaurs here?" Desiree asked

Sorkin shook her head and clicked the monitor off.

"No, yields of genetically created organisms are very low on the order of 1.4% or less. We just can't do the full scale production necessary at this facility. We breed the animals on our Site B facility on Isla Sorna eighty-seven miles from here. We raise the animals to the point that it is safe to move them and then move them over here to our nursery you'll see in a moment. We own three islands in the area; Isla Nublar where we have all the major guest services and the park itself, Isla Sorna where we have the Site B research lab and development facility and Isla Montenceros, which is where we have our farming facility where we grow all the crops and livestock necessary for feeding the animals in the park. Dinosaurs need a lot of food, so we are working on farming livestock and crops nearly constantly, so much so that we've even had to modify the genetic them to make them grow faster. Now, if there aren't any further questions, I believe we have a lunch planned for you at Le Gigante our five star restaurant."


	7. Chapter 7 Ornithoscelidaphobia

Alexis Murphy breathed several deep, calming, breaths. She clenched her hands in her lap over and over and tried to bring the shuddering down.

Lex was very much her father's daughter, blonde, tall and thin. She was a pretty woman in her early thirties. At the moment, she was wearing a cotton blouse and a pair of white shorts; she was seated on the lush safari style bedspread of her hotel room. She had made a sort of nest for herself on the floor with all the cushions and blankets in the room and was now sitting cross legged, doing deep yoga breaths as she had been instructed. She had done this exact routine every day for the last twenty years. She felt like she had made great progress to this point and she was very proud of herself.

"Dinosaur" Lex said to herself, bracing herself for the rush of adrenaline associated with her fear.

She had been diagnosed with severe ornithoscelidaphobia, the irrational fear of dinosaurs. For most people the idea of being afraid of dinosaurs was somewhat laughable. After all, what could there be to fear from an animal that had been extinct for millions of years? But for Lex, the mere mention of anything to do with dinosaurs sent her immediately into a blind and overwhelming panic. Lex knew that it had something to do with the visit she had made to her grandfather's island, this island, when she had been thirteen. However, neither hypnosis nor any other treatment method had been able to unlock the door in Lex's mind that hid the memory of the most horrific moments of Lex's life. She had simply blacked it out, buried the memory of the trauma as deep as it would go in her subconscious, the memory was just too powerful, too overwhelming for Lex's mind to grasp.

But it was these suppressed memories that gripped Lex with paralyzing fear, impeding her ability to lead a normal, functioning life. She never knew when a panic attack would strike, but the most common trigger for these attacks were SUV's, thunderstorms, kitchens, and open freezer doors… all sorts of random events. But the most immediate and most over powering response was triggered by anything to do with dinosaurs. Once, a few years back, Lex had been watching tv and had caught the tail end of a commercial featuring a cartoon dinosaur singing about nose and throat medicine. Lex had smashed the television set with a lamp and screamed until she was hoarse and for days afterwards she had been unable to function for sheer panic.

She had a vague memory of the visit to the island, but it had seemed pretty cool. She remembered the helicopter ride, like a rollercoaster, it had been fun. She remembered meeting Dr. Grant and Dr. Sadler, Dr. Malcolm and… Mr. Ginaro.

Suddenly, Lex caught a flash in her mind. Rain pounding on the roof of a car, the ground shaking, a blast of thunder and a bellowing roaring sound that pounded in her head. And just like that, she had activated a trigger. The roaring sound filled her head; she clamped her hands over her ears, rocking back and forth in terror. She had a vision of huge jaws smashing down through the sun roof of a car. The jaws were right on the other side of glass, snapping, snarling trying to get at her. An eye, a HUGE eye was constricting as a light shown on it. Rain poured down off of pebbly leathery skin. Claws grasped a thick wire. Blood running over glass in a pouring rain. Her brother falling away from her, she reached out for him but he was trapped. Headlight splashed across her and a car fell from above her. The roaring went on and on in her head and Lex was feeling the familiar panic.

Feverishly she squeezed her thumb and ring finger together, the anchor motion to trigger the positive feelings she had worked hard to build up. Over the last twenty years, every time she had felt strong, confident and in control Lex had made this same simple gesture and now as she made the motion she felt the happy memories supplanting the fearful visions. She began to calm down.

Lex became somewhat aware that she had been repeating "He left us!" over and over without thinking about it. She had no idea what any of the visions meant, or what the significance of 'he left us' was. She had tried working through it with Dr. Gillman, her therapist, but whenever she got close to the traumatic memory, her brain locked it down.

Lex took several more calming yoga breaths, steadying herself.

"Tyrannosaurs Rex" said to herself in a clear voice.

Lex wasn't sure why the name of this particular dinosaur was more fearful to her than, say, brontosaurus or triceratops, but it was. Invariably, the name of this dinosaur triggered all sorts of disjoined images. A goat laying down, a giant flashlight, something about a culvert under a towering wall. They didn't make any sense, but she almost always fell into the terror that lurked at the back of her mind when she looked into any of those sorts of images. It had seemed liked most everything triggered a panic moment in the early days. Today, Lex gave a small nervous smile, because even though her hands had shook and her heart rate had gone through the roof, she was still in control. She was winning the battle against the fear.

It had been Dr. Gillman's suggestion that she customize herself to the idea of dinosaurs. Speaking the words aloud until she no longer felt the panic when she heard them. From there she had moved on to drawings of dinosaurs, revealed very slowly so she could take them in a little bit at time. Lex reached out for the manila envelope she had brought with her to the hotel room. She opened it and very slowly removed the first of a series of full sheet pictures. She had deliberately put the pictures in the envelope upside down so she could move up slowly from the feet to the head. The first picture wasn't very challenging, it depicted a painting of a Tyrannosaurus Rex from the turn of the century. The dinosaur was depicted in a grassy field near a family group of triceratops facing it. But everything was wrong about the animal, it was dragging its tail, walking upright with a lizard head and the feet of a bird. Dr. Gillman had chosen this image to start off with because it was so in accurate that it barely represented the dinosaur at all and Lex had no real problem with this image. It was just so different from the way real dinosaurs were that it was laughable.

The next image was slightly more difficult. This one was a picture of an old toy of a deinonychus toy. Again this depiction was very wrong, the body was too stocky, the head was the entirely wrong shape and its skin was pebbled like a lizard. One thing that had been a problem with this image was the huge curving claw on the end of the toe. Lex remembered that Dr. Grant had owned a fossilized raptor claw like that. He had been sitting on it when they were in a tree, though Lex couldn't remember why they were in the tree. When she saw the plastic toy's claws the first time she had experienced a flash of a claw, as sharp as razors tapping on the floor of a kitchen. She had a vision of something with glowing eyes, jaws full of sharp teeth, its arms spread wide as it charged towards her.

The third image had been very difficult to overcome, it depicted two dinosaurs fighting. One had fallen over on its back and the second was leaping at it, claws extended. The artist had depicted the animals in action, tails lashing, jaws open, all claws and teeth and scales. Lex had had a lot of trouble with this image. She kept having visions a monsters flying through the air at her, arms spread wide, jaws full of teeth, of a clawed hand with three fingers scrambling at the sides of a door. She had an impression, a recurring dream really of dinosaurs fighting. One was huge, two others much smaller, the big one had snatched the little ones up in its jaws and smashed them. She didn't know if the memory was real or just imagined but she saw it again and again in her sleep.

The fourth and final image had been the hardest to deal with. This was a more modern picture, it showed a group of tyrannosaurs drinking from a mossy puddle as a family group of triceratops looked on. The rexes were depicted with their tails held out behind them, balancing them. It was a sunny scene, but in her mind Lex morphed it to a stormy night. Lightning flashed, rain was running off the animal's pebbled skin. The roaring started to fill Lex's head again, she pressed her thumb and ring finger together and took deep breaths until it faded.

Lex had not known what her mother had been developing until recently. They hadn't been close since her parents got a divorce, Lex had always been close to her father, but Susan had always butted heads with her daughter. It had been a surprise to Susan when Lex had called out of the blue and asked if it would be okay for her to come and stay on Isla Nublar for a while. Susan had agreed and had helped her daughter cope with the mental stress of having dinosaur themed attractions around her all the time. It had brought mother and daughter closer than they had been for years. Susan had revealed that IGT had engineered dinosaurs. Lex had toured the lab, seen the eggs, even braved a meeting with a baby stegosaurus. All of this seemed very familiar to Lex for some reason, like déjà vu, but she couldn't put her finger on why.

Susan had consulted with Dr. Gillman and he had agreed that in order for Lex to overcome her fears she should face them head on, though he hadn't believed that Jurassic Park had real dinosaurs at first. In line with that, Lex and Susan had a dinner date tonight at the Sky Lounge, a large and luxurious restaurant that over looked the park. The slowly rotating glass restaurant had a perfect view over the big field where many of the herbivores grazed, the old volcanic crater where the rollercoasters and rides ran into the night and, in the shadow of a volcanic ridge, a view down into the tyrannosaur paddock.

Lex felt intensely nervous as she boarded the gondola up to the observation deck that housed the Sky Lounge. She was worried she would have a panic attack right there in the restaurant, in front of everyone, but she was resolved to try. She would face her fears (all be it from quite a distance and twelve stories up) and she would concur them. However, the dinner was nowhere near as bad as she had hoped. Lex had even stood at the window of the restaurant and looked out calmly at the herds of parasaurolophus and hadrosaurs feeding in the reeds by the lake, at the massive apatosaurs and brachiosaurs moving slowly across the field, she looked at the herd of triceratops and the stegosaurs and she felt a sense of contentment. This was a scene from another world, but it was an idyllic scene none the less.

Lex and her mother had finished eating and were waiting on coffee when they rotated around to the point where they could see the tyrannosaur paddock. It was mostly dense jungle, but there was a clearing, an open area and there, in the center was a huge earthen mound. Susan gasped and looked worriedly at her daughter.

"Mona Lisa is out on her nest." Susan said, "You don't have to look if you don't feel ready. I don't want you to push yourself."

Lex shook her head, her expression grim. She was going to do this! She would not be afraid anymore. No more nightmares, no more panic attacks, she would finally move on. Without saying a word she turned in her chain and looked out of the window. Her fingers were gripping the table cloth tightly and her heart pounded in her ears but she looked out and down, at the tyrannosaur.

Nothing happened. Seconds lengthened to minutes before Lex said, "She- she's asleep."

Susan looked out the window and saw that Lex was right. The big rex was laying down, her head in the shadow of the trees, her feathery body lay partially on its side, its legs stretched out. Lex was shocked to find that she didn't feel any fear at all looking at the big dinosaur. It wasn't the same. Tyrannosaurus Rex had haunted her nightmares for twenty years but it had always seemed more reptilian, colder, crueler. This animal looked like a huge bird. It reminded Lex of a wingless condor. She had expected… well she wasn't sure what she had expected, but it certainly wasn't this. She couldn't see the protruding teeth very well from this distance and the rex's peaceful sleep seemed to put her at ease. Their coffee arrived and Susan and Lex drank in silence, by the time they were done the tyrannosaur paddock had moved out of sight.

Lex wasn't sure about her feelings. She had thought she would be elated that she had concurred her fear, or perhaps she had expected to be terrified when face with a really, live, T-Rex but she wasn't. It was odd how time and again she had imagined a t-rex in her mind's eye and this animal was completely unlike her mental image of a tyrannosaur. It felt sort of anti-climactic in a way. Still, she had remained calm and slowly, a smile had spread across Lex Murphy's face. She had looked at an honest to god Tyrannosaurus Rex and felt nothing.


End file.
